Summer-long protests throughout the country were called a “thirst uprising” by the international press, as local residents fought for access to dwindling water supplies. Ironically, access to freshwater is a new right guaranteed in the revised post-Arab Spring constitution. Despite this, many poor and rural Tunisians face significant water shortages.

Tunisians have endured annual cycles of water surplus and drought since at least the Byzantine Empire. The nation of 11.4 million residents has a long history of water storage and water management know-how. But modern cycles of drought have gotten longer, with climate change threatening to bring even more dry weather to the northern Maghreb, north Africa’s desert region.

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The Euro-Mediterranean AGORA is a way to engage the civil society in the institutional and policy dialogue on research and innovation with the aim of becoming an integral part of the decision making and governance processes.

The Agora is an important component of the broader MEDSPRING project, supported by the European Union with the aim of strengthening the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue and cooperation on research and innovation.